APS 2023: Annual Scientific Meeting Travel Grant Recipient Report

Author name: Nicole Pope

Author biography: Nicole is an RN and a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral research is broadly focused on the use of digital health technologies to care for hospitalised children with pain.

Author contact details: Nicole.pope@student.unimelb.edu.au

Thanks to the Australian Pain Society for another fabulous Annual Scientific Meeting!

At the Annual Scientific Meeting, I had the opportunity to present findings from our qualitative study exploring patient and family perspectives about using an inpatient portal linked to the hospital’s Electronic Medical Record system to support their engagement in pain care. Findings outlined caregiver and youth recommendations for patient portal configurations that deeply engage and empower children and families in pain care through multidirectional knowledge sharing, supporting caregiver and clinicians’ roles without burdening or replacing human interaction implicit in family-centred pain care. Results also helped to direct further research, which should measure the impact of portals on pain-related outcomes and explore the perspectives of clinicians. 

These travel funds generously provided by the Australian Pain Society supported my attendance at the Annual Scientific Meeting, which provided invaluable opportunities for my professional learning, engagement, and dissemination of research findings. Facilitating the Pain in Child Health (PICH) Down Under Workshop and presenting study results at the Annual Scientific Meeting helped to establish collaborative nursing, interprofessional, and consumer partnerships and build my professional profile as an internationally recognised nurse researcher in my research field.

The PICH Down Under workshop was well attended and generated meaningful discussion about the future possibilities of establishing an Australian PICH trainee community. Watch this space! Communicating findings from the qualitative study as an oral presentation was important to share the voices and perspectives of youth and primary caregivers about using an inpatient portal to support their engagement in pain care. The presentation was, therefore, a critical opportunity to translate and disseminate my research to improve pain care practices and outcomes for children and families.

At the same time, and most importantly, attending the Australian Pain Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting allowed me to learn about other national and international pain research and collaborate with pain experts and other trainees from around the world. It was a real privilege to meet international paediatric pain researchers, such as Professor Melanie Noel and Dr Jennifer Stinson, and learn about the novel and impactful work they are pioneering to advance the paediatric pain care field. Similarly, it was an honour to hear about the critical work Professor Denise Harrison is leading in Australia, the Be Sweet to Babies program of research, focused on partnering with families and clinicians to improve pain outcomes for infants during needle procedures. Building these connections with the national and international pain community at the Annual Scientific Meeting was possible because of the generous support of the Australian Pain Society. Above all, it was an absolute BLAST! I cannot wait to attend the 2024 ASM in Darwin!

Declaration: Nicole Pope gratefully acknowledges participating parents, youth, and staff who gave their time and support for this study. Nicole is a PhD candidate and the grateful recipient of The Melbourne Research Scholarship and the Be Sweet to Babies studentship supporting her PhD studies. She is also the recipient of the Vera Scantlebury Brown Child Welfare Memorial Trust Scholarship and the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre Prince Henry’s Affiliates Scholarship. These funders have no role in the design and conduct of the study.